Agenda and minutes

Councillor Diggory Seacome was elected as Chairman.

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The Old Fire Station and Engine House, St James Square, Cheltenham

Phil Cooper, Licensing Officer, introduced the report as circulated with the agenda.  An application had been received for a new premises licence at The Old Fire Station, St James Square, Cheltenham.  A copy of the application was attached as Appendix A.  The location of the premises and its internal layout were attached at Appendices B and C, and representations were shown at Appendix D.

The application sought authorisation for the following licensable activities:

·         The sale and supply of alcohol from 10am to 11pm Sunday to Thursday and 10am to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays

·         And the provision of late night refreshment from 11pm to 11.30pm Sunday to Thursday and 11pm to 12.30am on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Officer referred members to 2.3 of the report which listed the applicants’ steps to promote the licensing objectives and which would form conditions of the licence if granted. 

In addition to these, the applicants had agreed several other conditions following discussion with the council’s senior environmental health officer, relating to the provision of public nuisance and these were listed in 3.2 of the report.  As a result of these conditions the senior environmental health officer had withdrawn his initial representation.

The Officer confirmed that representations had been received from seven residents and these were summarised in 4.2 of the report.

The Officer advised the members that regard should be given to all of the representations made and evidence heard and to decide whether to grant the application as requested, to grant the application subject to conditions, or to reject all or part of the application, taking such steps as it considered necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives.

In attendance were Mr Peter McDonald representing the applicant, The Pioneer (City) Pub Company Ltd and Mr Niall McCann Solicitor for the applicant.

As there were no questions to the Officer, the Chair invited the representative of the applicant or the Solicitor to speak in support of the application.  Mr Niall McCann addressed the committee.  He referred to a copy of the statement of case which had previously been circulated to members.  He also showed pictures on a mood board to give the committee and residents an idea of the design and style of the proposed interior.

Mr McCann stated that they were pleased that there had not been representations from the statutory authorities and that the concerns raised by the senior environmental health officer had been addressed and that the statement of case would show that many of the concerns had now been alleviated.  He stated that they wanted to convert this eyesore into a bistro and bar and felt it would be a great addition to the area.  He hoped the customer base would be local residents, so they would listen to their views.  He was aware that this was a mixed use area and knew there could be problems with outside drinking and smoking but stressed these were not appropriate to this application. Mr McCann was aware of the binding conditions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.